


Autumn Colors

by PotionsMistressM, Sanalith



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-04
Updated: 2012-12-04
Packaged: 2017-11-20 06:05:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/582106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PotionsMistressM/pseuds/PotionsMistressM, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanalith/pseuds/Sanalith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle attempts to bring some color into the Dark Castle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Autumn Colors

Belle should have been cleaning. Rumplestiltskin would be expecting his tea in under an hour, and she still had to finish dusting the trinkets in the Great Hall, to say nothing of boiling the water and setting out the pastries he favored. (Who would have guessed the feared Dark One had a sweet tooth?) Despite this, her feather duster and cleaning cloth lay discarded on an end table while she stared out the window, her eyes locked on the breathtaking sight before her.

Fall had come to the lands outside the Dark Castle. The weather changed so little, Belle had become convinced that Rumplestiltskin controlled even that, but if he did, he apparently chose not to stop the seasons from changing. A riot of color greeted her eyes, the trees drenched in scarlet and gold. A breeze rustled the leaves back and forth, and she’d thrown open the window and allowed it to tickle her hair.

Of all seasons, Belle loved fall most. She wilted during summer’s heat and froze during winter’s chill. Spring could be pleasant, but too much rain churned up mud that got simply everywhere and ruined more pairs of boots than she cared to count. But fall…lovely, lovely fall, with its brilliant colors, crisp winds and just a hint of snow in the air…fall was perfection.

Though technically allowed outside so long as she didn’t leave the grounds, Belle disliked leaving the castle without telling Rumplestiltskin first. But the beautiful weather called to her, and she couldn’t resist its siren song…at least not entirely.

Dragging a chair over to the window, Belle climbed up and perched herself on the ledge. Leaning forward, careful to keep a tight grip in the windowsill, she reached out toward a large tree. If nothing else, she’d bring a bit of fall inside the castle! Her small hands fisted tightly around a clump of brightly colored leaves, and with a triumphant smile she yanked them toward her.

Of course, Belle’s balance –always precarious, even when not perched on windowsills – was thrown off by her tug. She grunted, trying desperately to reorient herself, when an amused voice suddenly broke into her concentration.

“My goodness, dearie, whatever are you doing?”

Looking down, Belle saw Rumplestiltskin standing in front of the chair she'd dragged over to assist in her ascent. He looked amused, his arms crossed in front of his chest, but also wary. In the short time they'd known each other, her tendency toward clumsiness had become abundantly clear to him, and with the added danger of an open window, he shuddered at the many possible horrors that might come of Belle's interaction with an open window.

She turned away from him again as the leaves she'd been pulling on began to pull back. Determined, Belle only increased her efforts, leaning back inside the window and tugging, but the stubborn branch ripped the leaves out of her hand as it bounced back towards the trunk of the tree, irritated by her assault. Suddenly without any resistance to her pull, Belle's own strength worked against her, and she tumbled backward off the ledge, feet landing with a heavy thunk on the chair. One hand still held the windowsill in a death grip (truth be told, she hadn't been entirely sure she wouldn't miss landing on the chair, and it was a long way to the floor), Belle tried to smile at Rumplestiltskin. As if she hadn't just been caught hanging half way out of a window and was not currently standing on one of the gorgeous, probably very expensive chairs he placed around his dining table. Letting go of the window, Belle hopped off the chair, wiped her hands on her skirt, and looked at her employer with a somewhat defiant smile.

"I wanted to bring some leaves inside," she stated in as matter-of-fact a manner she could, but even to her own ears it sounded silly, childish, and she wouldn't have blamed Rumplestiltskin if he took it upon himself to magically lock all of the windows in the castle, if only for her own protection. But he only tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.

"Why?" To anyone else's ears, his single syllable question would have sounded like an insult, like he had already decided the other person was exceedingly stupid but was asking simply to hear the exceedingly stupid reasoning. But Belle wasn't intimidated by him- never had been (well, just for the smallest amount of time)- and she chose to only hear the question.

"Well, because they're so pretty!" Belle exclaimed, throwing her arms wide and turning again to glance out the window. She couldn't help smiling at the simple, natural beauty. It really was pretty here. Remote, sometimes lonely, hard to reach by carriage... but definitely pretty. All in all not a bad place to spend forever. Taking a deep breath of the lovely, crisp, clean fall air, Belle turned back toward him. "I love it when the colors change!"

Her smile faltered slightly as Rumplestiltskin only cocked his head in the other direction, as confused a look as he ever wore playing across his face, his nose wrinkled and his eyes narrowed.

"The color change means they're dead, dearie."

Belle laughed and went to collect her abandoned cleaning supplies.

"I know," she said, still smiling, undeterred by his negation. "But just because something isn't the same as it used to be doesn't have to mean it's gone bad or that it's lost its usefulness. Even if these leaves are dead, they're still here, holding on. The tree hasn't given up to winter yet, and personally, I think the autumn leaves are much prettier than the green ones, anyway."

Rumplestiltskin was silent as Belle finished collecting her things. It was nearly tea time, and she supposed he wouldn't mind if his dusty old things stayed dusty just a day longer. Turning back toward him, Belle's breath caught in her throat, a gasp barely escaping her lips. The entire Great Hall had exploded into a frenzy of fiery fall foliage. Crimson and gold, ocher and pine, burgundy and bronze... The leaves were arranged in vases and hung like garlands. Everywhere she looked there was some bit of the outdoors. Even Rumplestiltskin's own things didn't go unscathed; a bright orange pumpkin sat happily on top of his pile of straw. Spinning around to take all of it in, Belle clapped happily, a grin nearly splitting her face in two.

"It's beautiful!" she cried. "Thank you, Rumplestiltskin." The imp shrugged and smiled, a bit sheepishly.

"If you like it all that much, all you have to do is ask. I'd hate to have to hire a new caretaker to clean up the splattered remains of the last one who thought it was a good idea to hang out of a window." Belle made a face at him as she returned to his side. She had to at least pretend to be offended at his lack of faith in her coordination, even if she knew he was probably right.

"Thank you," she repeated, softly this time, with a sweet, sincere smile that, had he been in possession of a heart, would have melted it. For a moment Rumplestiltskin returned her smile but as was often the case with him, the smile turned into more of a mischievous smirk before he raised a finger to point at her.

"Just don't be telling me how beautiful winter is in a couple of months. Snow in the Great Hall would be rather harder to maintain, and I have no interest in ice skating to tea."

Laughing, Belle smirked right back at him.

"Deal."


End file.
